prefigured or fore-shadowed either by Zerubbabel the Prince of Iudah or by his associate Iesus the high Priest in conducting Gods people from the land of their captivity into the land of promise Yes there is not one title or attribute mentioned in either prophecy but it is fore-shadowed either joyntly both by Zerubbabel Iesus the high Priest or severally by one of them 4 As he is the Branch of David fore-prophecied by Esaiah Chap. 11. 1. where to both these prophecies of Ieremiah and Zachary have reference hee is more exquisitely prefigured by Zerubbabel then by David himselfe or any other Prince of David's Line The Branch which God had promised to raise up unto David almost an 110 yeares before Ieremiah had uttered his prophecies was to grow up out of the stemme or roote of Iesse as it is Esay 11. 1. that is he was to be a man of meaner parentage then Iesse the Father of David was a man more unlikely to become a Prince or Ruler of God's people then David was when hee kept his Father's sheepe Of David's linage many after the captivity were poore and of as meane ability as Iesse David's Father was Zerubbabel was borne unto Salathiel in captivity and Salathiel himselfe the sonne of Ieconiah a poore captive Prince but whâ—-Salathiel was the sonne of Ieconiah's body or rather his sonne by adoption I have no more to say then was said before Whether this way or that way hee were his sonne if wee consider the potency of the Chaldean Empire when he was borne or the Chaldeans generall aversnesse from the Iewes or their jealousie of the royall race it was more unlikely that any of David's line should be released from captivity or be suffered to returne from Babylon unto their native land then that Israel should be delivered from the Egyptian thraldome by Moses But the same God which had shewed his mighty power in the overthrow of Pharaoh and his powerfull host did as miraculously shew both his power and wisdome in the suddaine surprisall of Babylon and overthrowing the Babylonian Empire by Cyrus Of these two wonderfull deliverances of his people the later in the Prophet Ieremy his esteeme is the greater therefore he saith Ierem. 16. 14. 15. Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that it shall no more be said the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt but the Lord liveth that brought up the Children of Israel from the land of the North and from all the lands whither hee had driven them and I will bring them againe into their land that I gave unto their Fathers The like you may read Ierem. 23. 7. 8. Cyrus after his strange conquest of Babylon sets Gods people free and authorizeth Zerubbabel the next heire then left unto the Crown of Iudah to conduct them unto Ierusalem there to serve their God as he in his Lawes had prescribed But after their safe arrivall there they are molested by their malicious enemies the building of the City and Temple is after Cyrus his death for divers yeares hindred untill Zerubbabel by his favour and potency with Cyrus his successors procures the revivall of the charter which Cyrus granted and frees himselfe and God's people from further molestation by their enemies as you may read it at large in the Booke of Ezra So that part of Ieremiah's prophecy is verified of him for in his dayes and by his meanes under God Iudah was saved and Israel did dwell securely Though hee were not in name or title a Saviour yet is hee indeed the Saviour of his people from present distresse and danger And thus farre this poore revived Branch of David is a true and lively Type of that Branch of David in whom all the promises of God made unto Abraham and David were fulfilled who was to be a Saviour not in realty only but in name or title and called especially Iesus because hee was to save his people not from bodily distresse or captivity but from their sinnes And as he is in this sensea Saviour Iesus the Sonne of Iehosadech is the lively Type or shadow of him as well in office or function as in expresse name or title for hee being their high Priest and Aaron's successor did make legall attonement for their sinnes did sanctify the Temple Altar and their offerings and performed all legall righteousnesse for theâ— insigne of greater righteousnesse and salvation by that high Priest which was to come whose supreame title was the Lord our righteousnesse 5 But did either Zerubbabel or this Iesus the high Priest and his associates prefigure or fore shadow our high Priest in this royall name or title of being the Lord our righteousnesse Certaine it is that Zerubbabel did not for neither his owne name nor his Fathers nor any of his Progenitors names since Iehosaphat's dayes had any reference to this title nor import the thing signified by it in their grammaticall significations But the Father of this Iâ—shua or Iesus the high Priest was named Iehosadech which signifies as much as the righteousnesse of the Lord or the righteous Lord. 6 But here wee must consider that names are of two sorts Some names agree to the things named substantially and directly Others accidentally or in obliquâ— The former fort expresse the condition and nature of the thing named As the name of Adam which God imposed upon the first man did expresse his nature or substance to wit the red earth out of the which he was framed So the name which Adam gave unto the first woman did truly expresse the nature and condition of the Sex to wit that she was made of man that shee was of his flesh and of his bones so likewise is the name of Eveh a true expression of her nature for she was the Mother and Fonntaine of life unto all posteritie 7 Names otherwhiles though solemnely given expresse or import some circumstance or relation unto the nature or thing it selfe which they primarily and properly signifie So Gideon was called Ierub-baal not that ever he did plead for Baal but in remembrance of his fathers answer unto them which had expostulated with him for cutting downe Baal's grove 8 So Moses called the Altar which he erected Exod. 17. 14. Iehovah-Nissi the Lord my banner Not thereby intending to occasion us to think that the Altar so named was either Iehovah or his defence but only to import or signifie that in that place wherein hee built the Altar and at the time of this inscription Iehovah his God had been the defender and protectour of Israel in miraculous manner against the Amalekites So likewise when our Saviour called Simon Cephas or Petros the name imports not that he was either the rocke it selfe or Corner-stone whereon Christ's Church is founded But only that he had some speciall reference or relation unto the rock or foundation Stone which God had laid in Sion or which is all one that hee was the first which
did solemnely confesse and acknowledg Christ Iesus to be as truly God as man The matter or object directly signified by these words is the only true and reall Foundation of faith as Christian of the Catholique Church it selfe Of this ranke or sort of names is the name Iehosadech as it was given unto the Father of Iesus the high Priest but this doth no way import that he was either Iehovah or a man more righteous thē other high Priests had beene and yet so called not by chance or out of vain ostentation of his parents but by divine instinct or appointment of God Or whatsoever intent his parēts might have in giving him this name God did so direct their intentiōs as he did Caiphas his speech to be a kind of prophecy of what was to come We may say of Iehosadech as the Angell said of Iesus and his fellow-Priests that hee was vir portendens his very name and office did portend or bode that Iehovah himselfe the righseous Lord should become our high Priest And in as much as the Sonne of Iehosadech was the first high Priest the first of all the sonnes of Aaron that was called Iesus that is a Saviour this likewise did portend or fore-shadow that the Saviour of God's people the high Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech should be the son not of David only but of Iebovah the righteous Lord or Lord of righteousnesse And if he were to be as truly the Sonne of Iehovah the righteous Lord as he was to be the sonne of David then questionlesse hee was to be as truely Iehovah that is as truly and essentially God as hee is truly and essentially man For the relation betwixt the Father and the Sonne is much more strict in the Divine nature then it can be amongst men 9 Amongst men it will follow that if the Father be a man the Sonne must be a man if the Father be mortall the Sonne must be mortall but it will not follow that if the Father be a righteous or potent man the Sonne likewise must be a righteous or potent man The reason is because they are divided in substance But in as much as the Sonne of God is of the same substance or essence with his Father it will directly follow not only that if the Father be God the Sonne is God but also that if the Father be Lord of righteousnesse the Sonne also must be Lord of righteousnesse Yet in as much as not Iehosadech the Father but Iesus the Sonne became legall righteousnesse or a temporall Saviour to God's people in captivity this truly fore-shadoweth this truth unto us that although God the Father be as truly the Lord of righteousnesse as God the Sonne both being of one substance yet is Iehovah become our righteousnesse and our salvation not in the person of the Father but in the person of the Son CHAP. 23. The obiection of the Iewes against the interpretation of the former Prophecy Ierem. 23. answered In what sense Iudah is truly said to be saved and Israel to dwell in safety by Iesus the Sonne of God and Sonne of David YEt here the Iew will object that this prophecy is not yet fulfilled because Iudah is not fully saved nor Israel planted in their owne land But the Apostle hath fully answered this objection if wee could as rightly apply his solution All saith he are not Israel that are called Israel Rom. 9. 6. Yet many are true Israelites indeed which are not so in name Nor is he a Iew that is one outwardly but that is one inwardly The Apostle in the same place gives us to understand that many are Iewes or of Iudah inwardly which are not of Iudah outwardly or so called by name Whosoever is inwardly or in heart that which the name of Iudah importeth he is truly of Iudah though not the seede of Iudah or of Abraham concerning the flesh Now the name of Iudah or Iew importeth as much as a confessor or true professor of Abraham's faith and every one is a true Israelite that is so qualified as Nathaniel was one in whose spirit there is no guile unto all such and only unto such the Lord imputeth no sinne and all they unto whom the Lord imputeth no sinne all such as truly confesse Christ to be the Sonne of God and promised Branch of David are saved by him whether they be the somes of Iacob or of Abraham or Gentiles according to the flesh So that in conclusion all ludah and all Israel according to the full extent of this prophecy are saved by this Iesus for all of them dwell in safety they are not become afraid of themselves but possesse their soules with patience To become Iewes or Israelites in this sense is the first degree of salvation and this degree they likewise have from Iesus through whom and in whom they are to expect the accomplishment of their salvation Christ then first saves us from our sins that are inherent in us or as the Apostle speaks hee first sets us free from the Law of sinne by the spirit of life which is in him and finally exempts us from the wages of sinne which is everlasting death And thus much is contained in that fore-cited promise Ierem. 16. and in the close and conclusion of that prophecie Ierem. 23. concerning the saving of Iudah and Israel by the branch of David whose name or title is The Lord our righteousnesse Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that they shall no more say the Lord liveth which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt but the Lord liveth which brought up and which led the seede of the house of Israel out of the North country The Hebrew phrase Meeretz zaponah according to the usuall and ordinary rate of that language signifies indeed from the North-land yet the originall of this signification or importance of these words was from a conceit which the Iews or such as had their habitation neere unto the Aequinoctiall line had That those parts of the world which were more remote from the Aequinoctiall or Southerne climes were hidden from the sun and were at least in respect of their Country lands of obscurity and darknesse The very prime and native signification of the originall words in the Prophet rendred by our English from the North land or Country is verbatim from the land of obscurity or darknesse And whatsoever the land of Chaldea whereof Babylon was the chiefe City or Metropolis was unto others it was unto the captive Iewes a country of darknesse a land of obscurity the very shadow of death And their deliverance from it was a true type or shadow of our deliverance from the region or land of darknesse it selfe The full importance of the Evangellicall mystery included in the fore-cited passage of the Prophet Ieremy according to the most proper and most exquisite literall sense is expounded unto us by our Apostle S. Paul Coloss 1. 12. 13. God the
in this businesse was with the man Christ Iesus in unity of person and Christ Iesus is with us unto the worlds end as the Arke of the Covenant was with Moses and Ioshuah or with the host of Israel to direct and support us in all our wayes 4 But is this passage from this vale of misery to a better life any where in Scripture called a Passeover Or is it any part of the true meaning or importance of this solemne feast This mystery is unfolded by S. Iohn 13. 1. Now before the feast of the Passeover and it was but a day before when Iesus knew that his houre was come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That hee should depart as our English renders it or rather that he should passe out of this world unto his Father having loved his owne which were in the world he loved them unto the end Some good Interpreters note an elegancy of speech in the originall or an allusion unto the etymologie of the Passeover in Hebrew as if in Latine he had said ante diem festum transitus sciens Iesus quia veniet hora ejus ut transeat But to my observation wheresoever there is the like elegancy of speech or allusion in the original the elegancy is not affected for it selfe as it usually is by secular artists but alwaies denotes some mystery or somewhat in the matter it selfe more usefull to sober minds then any artificiall elegancy of speech can be to curious Artists Now the mystery charactered unto us in that speech of S. Iohn of Christ's passing out of this world unto his Father is this to wit That the legall Passeover which was instituted in memory of the Lord 's passing ouer the houses of the Israelites and their passage out of Egypt through the red sea did fore-shadow the passage of the Son of God out of this world wherein he had lived in the state and condition of a servant unto the land of his rest and liberty he therefore passed out of this world unto his Father that in his sight and presence he might obtaine the liberty and prerogatives of the only Sonne of God begotten of his Father before all worlds but he therefore came into this world that by his death and manner of departing out of it hee might open and prepare a passage for us out of this vale of misery The land or inheritance into which he passed is the inheritance of everlasting pleasure but the passage was on his part bitter and full of sorrow yet this notwithstanding hee willingly endured for the love of his people having loved his owne which were in the world saith the Apostle he loved them to the end that is hee perfectly loved them which would not suffer him to forget them when the houre of his bitter Passion approached willing to suffer whatsoever was laid upon him for their sake And as Moses the night before the Israelites passage out of Egypt did institute the Passeover so our Saviour before his passage out of this world did institute this Sacrament or Supper not only as a memoriall of his passage but as a perpetuall pledge of his peculiar presence for conducting all such as believe on him and to be a vejand or viaticum to strengthen and comfort all such as resolv'd to follow him as the Israelites did Moses Againe as Moses instructed the Israelites in the Lawes and rites of the Passeover before they eate it so our Saviour gave instructions by precept and example for our due preparation unto this service The precepts are generally two Humilitie which he taught by his example in washing his Apostles feete ver 13. to the 17. The second Love ver 34. ver 35. A New Commandement I give unto you that yee love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another by this shall all men know that yee are my Disciples if ye love one another CHAP. 34. The Resurrection of the Son of God and the effects or issues of his birth from the grave were concludently fore-pictured by the Redemption of the firstlings of the flockes and of the first borne males and by the offerings of the first fruits of their corne BVt was the legall sacrifice of the Paschal Lambe the only solemne memoriall either of the Lord's passage over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt or of the Israelites passage out of Egypt through the red Sea Are all the mysteries of the Gospell which immediately concerne our Saviour's Resurrection and passage out of this mortall life to an immortall to be referred unto this one legall Type or modell Is this the only scale by which we are to measure it No the feast of the Passeover was an anniversary kept but once a year whereas the Lord would have as well the deliverance from the destroying Angell in Egypt as their deliverance from the host of Pharaoh to be often imprinted in their memories and their impressions to be renewed upon severall and frequent occasions To this purpose was that precept concerning the first borne directed to Moses before their passage out of Egypt Exod. 13. 1. The Lord spake unto Moses saying sanctifie unto me all the first borne whatsoever openeth the wombe among the children of Israel both of man and beast it is mine and againe ver 11. 12. of the same Chap. Every first-ling of their heards or flocks is expressely markt out for the Lord with the stampe or character of the Passeover And it shall be that when the Lord shall bring thee to the lands of the Canaanites that thou shalt cause to passe over unto the Lord all that open the matrix and every first-ling of the beast which thou hast the male shall be the Lords and every firstling of an asse thou shalt redeeme with a Lambe and if thou wilt not redeeme it then thou shalt breake his neck and aâ—â— the first borne of man amongst thy children thou shalt redeeme The reason of this Law is given ver 14. 15. to wit because the Lord by strength of hand had brought them out of Egypt after hee had slaine the first borne of Egypt both of man and beast therefore they were to sacrifice unto the Lord all that opened the matrix being males But the first-borne of their children they were to redeeme yet these as all other legall rites and sacrifices had a double aspect or reference The one to the first occasion of their institution which is here literally exprest the other to fore-shadow somewhat to come by the legall service or institution The mystery fore-shadowed by the legall sanctifying or sacrificing the first-borne males unto the Lord was the expectation of a first-borne male by whose Consecration or passing over unto the Lord all these and the like legall ceremonies should once for all be accomplished and their children fully sanctified and redeemed That these legall services taken at the best could be no more then shadowes of good things to come common reason might have taught this people
Confirmation of of leagues and of the fearfull iudgments that usually fall upon them who wittingly and willingly violate them THe use of oaths amongst the Romans was somewhat more ample then all these instances imply though how farre it did extend I leave it to the determination of Civilians A very good Civill Lawyer tells mee and his testimony is most consonant to our Apostles mind in this place Vetus fuit regula iuris causā iureiurando decisam non retractari that a cause or case of Controversie decided by oath might not be traversed or recalled Iustinian's restraint of this ancient rule in some special rare cases rather corroborates then impaires the indefinite truth or generall validitie of it Yet were not oaths assertory more authentique or of more validitie in ancient times for ending Controversies betwixt man and man then oaths promissory such as God's oath in this place is were for maintaining publique peace or confirming leagues betwixt Nation and Nation The examples of heathen aswell as of sacred Princes or Generalls so we would follow them teach us not to retract any thing that we have sworne unto nor to delay performance of any thing which wee have promised by oath albeit the conditions in some cases prove such in the issue as wee would not have subscribed unto them at any hand had we knowne them in others such as wee ought not to have subscribed unto When Alexander the great a Prince otherwise too rash and furious in executing his rigorous designes perceived that the Lampsaceni open Rebells in his interpretation had entertained Anaximenes his fathers old acquaintance to plead for their pardon fearing that this smooth-tongued Orator if hee should permit him to speak his minde at large might somewhat mitigate the rigorous sentence pronounced against them upon the Orator's first approach into his presence takes a solemne oath by the Gods of Greece that hee would doe quite contrary to whatsoever hee would request on the behalfe of the Lampsaceni Then said Anaximenes it will litle boote me to be long in my petition which in briefe shall be this That you would captivate their wives and children destroy their City and set the Temples of their Gods on fire Now albeit this boistrous King had stedfastly purposed to doe asmuch as the Orator's words imply and had interposed a solemne oath to confirme his purpose yet his oath being by the Orators cunning retorted his former resolution did relent and yeeld unto the Orator's first intended serious request And in memory of this great Controversy between this great Prince and his Rebellious Subjects or revolted Confederates thus happily ended by a retorted or inverted oath the Orator had an Olympick statue erected to him by his Clients 2 Thus to save this City with it's Inhabitants could not be more prejudiciall to Alexander's former oath or resolution then it was to Ioshua to make peace or league with any Cananite for God whose Generall hee was had given him expresse command to the contrary Yet in asmuch as that strict commandement given by God was only particular to this purpose the neglect of it especially upon ignorance of circumstances was evill only because forbidden and only so farre evill as it was forbidden But in asmuch as an oath is the most sacred bond in humane societie the breach of it is not only evil because forbidden but therefore forbidden because in it self so evil Whence though it were unlawful for Ioshua to make any league with the Gibeonites being by Nation and Progeny Cananites yet in asmuch as they were men the league once made with them being confirmed by oath might not be violated by him or any of his Successors The legall maxime in this case holds most firmely fieri non debuit factum valet Although Ioshua had formerly sworne to have continuall warre with the Cananites yet the interposition of this oath upon a mistake that they were not Cananites must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an end of hostile quarrell betweene Israel and the Gibeonites or if any haply should here reply that this league did valere de facto was made valid more through Ioshuah's curtesie or scrupulosity of conscience then by the Law of nature Nations or by any strict rule of equitie the severitie of God's judgments upon the house of Saul for violating this league which Ioshua had made by oath more then foure hundred yeares after he had made it will convince him of error Saul sought to slay the Gibeonites in his zeale to the children of Israel and Iudah 2. Sam. 21. 2. but as if Israel had forfeited their estate in the promised land by breach of their former Covenant the earth for three yeares denyed her encrease as it is verse the first Nor could this famine be satisfied otherwise then by the flesh and blood of those men for whose sake the Gibeonites blood had beene unjustly spilt For when David being instructed of the Lord that the famine was sent to revenge their wrongs demanded of the Gibeonites to whom the Lord now had given power of binding and loosing Israel What shall I doe for you and wherewith shall I make the attonement that yee may blesse the Inheritance of the Lord They said unto him Wee will have no silver nor gold of Saul nor of his house neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel But the man that consumed us that devised evill against us that wee should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel let seaven men of his Sons be delivered unto us and wee will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul whom the Lord did chuse v. 3. 4. 5. 6. But David as it followes spared Mephibosheth at whose life the Gibeonites did specially aime because of the Lord's oath that was betweene them between David and Ionathan the Son of Saul 3 But here least such malevolent eyes or eares as Machiavel's or Machiavilian Politicians should by looking upon or hearing this story read let in suspicion into their unhallowed hearts of some secret complot betwixt the Gibeonites and David for planting the Scepter of Israel in David's stocke by rooting out the whole stock of Saul besides this impotent forlorne branch Mephibosheth we may parallel this prodigious calamitie with others like unto it which in the observation of heathen writers have by the providence of God befalne other royall families for the perjurie of their Progenitors albeit executed upon them by the hands of men The difference will be only this that David in the execution of God's fierce wrath upon the house of Saul did understand his Commission much better then other Executioners of Gods like wrath did who did nothing but what God would have done but without just warrant 4 Could Kindomes be surely founded upon their present strength and greatnesse or states be made stand upright and firme by rule of secular policy the likelyhood was greater that the Macedonian Kingdome should have continued in
more then commendable arts or naturall skill could afford them either for astonishing or deluding their senses or surprizing their wits However this of the Prophet Ionas being the last signe or forewarning which this evill generation was to expect from our Saviour the consequence of their non-observance or not repenting after the exhibition of it was most contrary to this examplary patterne of the Ninivite's observance of Ionas embassage by turning to the Lord in sackcloth and ashes Iudah was now become more contrary to our God then either her sister Samaria or then Assiria or Niniveh had been and God's waies became more contrary unto her and to her children The Ninivites repenting within the forty daies limited for this purpose God repealed the sentence which he had pronounced against them although Ionas who proclaimed it did murmure or grumble at it For he expected that the Lord whose mouth and messenger he was should at the forty daies end declare him to be a true Prophet by putting his sentence in execution The Son of God expects as long for the repentance of these Iewes which doubtlesse would have pleased him much better then their destruction But seeing they would not repent within the forty daies between his Resurrection and Ascension the sentence proclaimed by Ionas against Niniveh proceeds in fullest measure against this wicked and adulterous generation or degenerate seed of Abraham 5 But shall we be concluded from these premisles to say that Ierusalem and Iudah were destroyed immediately upon our Saviour's Ascension No but this we may safely say that from the day of his Ascension which was the fortieth day after his Resurrection both the City and Nation did ipso facto jure incurre the sentence of woe denounced against Niniveh by Ionas And we may further adde that the destruction both of City and Temple the desolation of Iudea and miserable dispersion of the Iewes throughout the Nations became more necessary and more inevitable then heretofore they had been not for the indefinite substance only of the woe denounced but the very measure of their misery did dayly by the like necessity increase both for intensive decrees and for extension especially in respect of the number of persons which did incurre the sentence or decree pronounced against them and of the time ordurance of the matter of woe denounced in it Yet were none of these necessary but by their continuance in their fore-father's sins and by not repenting of them and by the dayly increase of their owne and their childrens sinnes 6 During the time of these forty yeares after our Saviour's Ascension the City and State had a possibility of being freed à tanto though not a toto though not simply from destruction yet from such fearfull desolation as afterwards befell them But continuing as impenitent all these forty yeares as they had done for the forty daies before his AscensioÌ„ the sentence within forty years after his Resurrection began to be put in execution according to the strict tenour of our Saviour's prediction Luk. 19. 41. 42. 43. 44. During the time of these forty daies God's Iudgments did lay seige against Ierusalem but the son of man Christ Iesus yet conversing as man here upon earth did bear off the punishments due to their iniquity as Ezechiel intitled and in Type the son of man had before prefigured Chap. 4. 6. Thou shalt beare the iniquitie of the house of Iudah forty daies I have appointed thee each day for a year see v. 1. 2. And thus at the end of forty yeares after our Saviour's Resurrection allotting a yeare for every day of his abode on earth the City and Temple were destroied This Calender of a day for a yeare was no new or uncouth account to this people either in the daies of Ezechiel or at the time of our Saviour's Ascension it was a Calender of God's owne making as we may read Numb 14. 33. 34. Your children shall wander in the wildernesse forty yeares and beare your whoredomes untill your Carkeises be wasted in the wildernsse after the number of the daies in which yee searched the land even forty daies each day for a year shall yee beare your iniquities even forty yeares and yee shall know my breach of promise I the Lord have said it I will surely doe it unto all this evill Congregâ—tion that are gathered together against me in this wildernesse they shall be consumed and there they shall die The people were gathered against God when they were gathered against Ioshuah and Caleb and bad stone them with stones ver 10. And the Glory of the Lord which then appeared in the Tabernacle of the Congregation before all the children of Israel had now more personally and visibly appeared in the man Christ Iesus and yet how oft were they ready to stone him to death The former people for their rebellion were to die in the wildernesse without hope of seeing the promised land 7 For the rebellion of this later generation specially after the Glory of God was now revealed by his Resurrection Ierusalem according to Micah's prophecy was to become an heape of stones and Sion the beauty of the whole Nation was to be plowed like a field and the mountaine of the house which was the glory of Sion was to become as the high places of the forrest a more gastly wildernesse then that wherein their Fathers wandred The cause of God's plague denounced Numb 14. was that generations credulity to believe the report of the other spies concerning the land of Canaan contrary to the good report which Caleb and Ioshuah had made of it And the cause why this generation were to die of a more fearfull plague in Ierusalem and why Ierusalem was to become an heape was their distrust unto the promise concerning the Kingdome of heaven whereof the land of Canaan in her highest prosperity was but the mappe avouched by Iohn Baptist the Preacher of Repentance and by Iesus the Son of David which had viewed it and presented the fruits of it unto them And for this their distrust as their Fathers had wandred forty yeares in the wildernesse and never admitted to the land of Canaan so this rebellious generation had forty yeares time before they were cast out of the earthly Ierusalem never to be admitted into new Ierusalem which came down from heaven CHAP. 43. That place of Zachary Chap. 14. v. 3. expounded shewing that God did fight with the Gentiles against the Iews as formerly he had done with the Iewes against the Gentiles How the forty daies of Christ's abode upon earth after his Resurrection was fore-told THis wath of God against Ierusalem was fore-told by the Prophet Zachary Chap. 14. ver 1. 2. 4. Behold the day of the Lord commeth saith the Prophet and the spoile shall be divided in the mid'st of thee that is her enemies should not come against her as rievers ' or boot-halers which dare not stay to divide the spoile where they catch it